Usually when I see the name 'Simon Crean' in the press I shudder slightly and wonder what kind of BS I'm about to read but on this (rare) occasion, he's actually correct.
"I do not have a problem with a branding exercise that promotes as a marketing tool why [an] Australian product is good quality, value for money, because there's plenty of things we can promote in that regard."
"There's lots of markets we can't get into, and that's why we have to spend so much effort breaking down those markets and getting access," he said.
"We won't do it if we join the downward spiral to protectionism, and mandating the purchase within a country is protectionism; pure and simple."
Now, he's correct in that there's nothing wrong with a branding exercise - anyone should be free to start their own 'Buy Australia' marketing campaign - but the government should avoid getting involved. Unfortunately I think that, on the contrary, Crean is implying that the government will provide assistance to this campaign, which amounts to nothing more than a subsidy to local producers. These are the kind of indirect subsidies that often 'slip through the cracks' as most people are completely ignorant (due to a lack of economic understanding) towards them. Indeed, they quite often blindly support them under the guise of 'nationalism'. What I want to know is if people really care, why don't they campaign for voluntary funding? Surely that's better than forcefully taking funds from the population, many of whom will see no benefit at all from the campaign.
As far as the anti-protectionism stance, kudos to Mr. Crean (although one has to question his motives - resource revenue from China, in other words more money for his trough, and the possible backlash that could occur perhaps?). I wish the same could be said for his new apprentice, the young 'up-and-comer' and new Employment Participation Minister Mark Arbib (yikes, you can't make this stuff up), is "...listening to union demands for a 'buy Australia' policy". I used to have the misfortune of occasionally watching him talk before work (daylight savings shifted the programming!) and disagreed with almost everything he had to say - mind you, I wasn't agreeing with the Liberal representative either. I fear if he gets anywhere near policies that promote "jobs" or "local industry" or (insert union rhetoric here), he'll be quite successful at dragging our economy through the mud. I think Comrade Rudd even has him lined up as a future Labor leader - what a scary thought!
